#syphillis

Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeld

Painting by Joseph Karl Stieler, neoclassical portrait, 1847

Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld, better known as Lola Montez, (17.02.1821-17.01.1861) was the daughter of Elizabeth Oliver and Ensign Edward Gilbert. She was born in Grange, County Sligo in Ireland and grew up in India. After her mother remarried (Eliza's father died of cholera), she was sent back to Britain to go to school. She was known to be a mischief-maker.

She eloped and married a man named Lt. Thomas James at age 16. They separated five years later. Her career as a dancer started in 1844 in Paris when she was 23 years old. There she had an affair with Franz Liszt and after being accepted into the city's Bohemian cirle, she had caused some stirs, which resulted in a duel and a man's death.

In 1846 she travelled to Munich, and was quickly accepted as Ludwig I. of Bavaria's mistress. She was extremely unpopular with the Bavarian people because of her control over the kKing, her arrogance and her Temper. It also didn't help that Ludwig made her a Bavarian citizen (giving her the Title of Countess of Landsfeld). Due to all of this, King Ludwig I. abdicated in favor of his son and Lola fled Bavaria.

She spent her next few years remarrying another man, which resulted in her having to flee Britain due to a bigamy charge. She then travelled around Spain and France, finally deciding to make a new start in the United States of America. Her career was successful there and so was a tour of Australia.

There are a bunch of different sexually transmitted infections, and most of them can be separated into two categories: STDs caused by bacteria, and STDs caused by viruses. The main difference between them is that bacterial STDs are curable, and viral STDs are not curable. But it gets a little more complicated than that.

Bacterial STDs include gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, and trichomoniasis (trich). STDs caused by bacteria can be cured with medicine. This means that once the medicine has finished working, the infection is totally gone and you don’t have the STD anymore. But if you don’t get treated, they can lead to health problems (like infertility) in the future. And it’s possible to get a bacterial STD again — that’s why it’s important to get tested for STDs regularly.

Viral STDs include herpes, HPV, and HIV. STDs that are caused by viruses can live in your body forever. That may sound scary, but viral STDs don’t always cause serious health problems. And there are treatments that can help manage your symptoms and prevent the virus from spreading to other people. Some viral STDs can even go away on their own.

Herpes is a super common skin condition that can cause outbreaks of blisters, but it’s not dangerous. Most of the time there are no symptoms, or the symptoms aren’t noticeable, so lots of people don’t even know they have herpes. Herpes outbreaks are no fun, but the first one is the worst. Repeat outbreaks are usually shorter and less painful. Most people with herpes get fewer outbreaks as time goes on, and some stop having them altogether.  People who have herpes can take medicine to help prevent outbreaks and avoid spreading the virus to their partners.

HPV is a common virus that has lots of different types, or “strains.” Some strains cause genital warts, which can be annoying but aren’t dangerous. Other strains can lead to certain genital and oral cancers, especially cervical cancer. But regular Pap tests can spot any problems on your cervix before they become cancer, and HPV tests can find the types of HPV that can lead to cancer. The HPV vaccine is also a good way to prevent HPV. Most of the time, HPV goes away on its own and doesn’t cause any health problems.

HIV is a virus that hurts your immune system (your body’s defense against getting sick). When HIV damages your immune system, it’s easier to get really sick from things that normally wouldn’t affect you. Without treatment, HIV can lead to AIDS, which is when other illnesses can easily attack your body. There are medicines that people living with HIV can take to stay healthy, and lots of ways to avoid giving HIV to other people. There’s also a medicine you can take to help prevent HIV, called PrEP.

STDs don’t discriminate. Anybody who has sexual contact with another person can get an STD. That’s why getting tested for STDs regularly if you have sex is important — the sooner you know you have an infection, the sooner you can get treated. The good news is, most STDs are easy to cure or treat. And having safer sex can help prevent STDs.

Experts reason better detection but there is also lack of penicillin and a refusal to prevent

Despite successive warnings in recent years, Brazil has not yet managed to stop the advance of syphilis. Last year, the country recorded the largest number of cases of the disease since 2010, when reporting began to occur regularly, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

In 2018 alone, there were 158,000 cases of acquired syphilis, equivalent to 75.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. For comparison, a year earlier, this rate was 59.1 cases per 100,000.

Preliminary data from 2019 indicate that the trend is unlikely to reverse this year.

Hey there nonny! 

I typically don’t advise trying to discern a disease around a symptom, but looking up diseases that might affect your characters. 

Seizures are a pretty severe symptom, and for them to develop as part of a disease process over only a couple of weeks is pretty rapid. 

The first 4 things that pop into my head are all possible, and not necessarily a function of her lifestyle. 

First is cancer. A neoplasm of the brain or the meninges is possible, and when that cancerous growth puts pressure on the brain, seizures are a result. In the cases I’ve seen, the pressure can cause nearly continuous seizures, though intermittent ones are definitely possible. 

Second is an aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation (AVM). If your character’s proclivities include drug use, and  has included significant amounts of cocaine, crack, or stimulants like PCP, the “temporary” rise in blood pressure can put pressure on an artery or poorly formed blood vessel in the brain, which could cause seizures. This would also cause nasty focal (one-place) headaches and localized muscle weakness or numbness in other parts of the body. 

Third is meningitis. A viral meningitis will be slower to grow than a bacterial meningitis, and would cause a fever, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, and seizures. It would develop over a few days at most; meningitis is very fast-moving. She may also be sleepy or difficult to wake. 

3a would be viral  or bacterial encephalitis, where the brain itself gets an infection and starts to swell; this is often a latent infection. It’s a common presentation of HIV. This could also be a presentation of neurosyphilis; ie, untreated syphilis that’s spread to the brain, though this is much slower to develop. (Neurosyphilis is also bacterial, not viral.) Symptoms might include fever, weakness, confusion, headache, and seizures. 

Fourth would actually be withdrawal. If your character is chemically dependent upon alcohol, and she decides to stop suddenly, withdrawal seizures are extremely common. While they’re not typically life threatening, they can be, especially if the seizure comes at the wrong time (whiled driving, while stepping out into the street, etc.) 

I hope somewhere in these four ideas you find something that works for you :) 

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

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Confession

I did some outreach at a church: HIV/Hep C testing and substance abuse counseling. The point person who arranged it urged me to test homeless people but not the church members. Needless to say, one of the church members tested positive for HIV and endorsed drug use via injection. It also appeared that the person had late stage syphilis.